


Stuck in a Cage

by irlShiro



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Blood, Drug Abuse, F/M, Hybrid AU, Infection, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rabbit!Ray, Torture, cat!Michael, dog!burnie, fox!barbra, horror?, lion!Jack, otter!joel, ram!Geoff, syringes, very gay and very sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-02-22 23:46:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2526104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irlShiro/pseuds/irlShiro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To be victim to his fellow Achievement Hunters' shenanigans was something Ray was pretty used to. But to be stuck in a cage during the night when someone breaks in wasn't something he'd imagine. An unknown virus goes viral too, with no one knowing of any cure for it. Yeah, they were pretty screwed. But here he was, and it wasn't going so well. </p><p>Did they have to use a big rabbit cage?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to clarify that my first language is not english, so I'm sorry if there's any errors. 
> 
> Enjoy~

 

It started out as a simple joke. Ray didn't realize what happened until he was in it. He was trapped inside a cage, one for a dog, or a big rabbit. The cage itself was in the middle of the Achievement Hunter office, so everyone could giggle at the sight. Ray wasn't pleased, well he thought it was funny for the first thirty minutes, but when he realized that they wouldn't let him go just yet, he silenced and growled low. He felt like a laughing stock right now.

It's been one and a half hour. Geoff had put him outside the office since he started to yell and try to get out. "Buddy, it'll just be for one day, you know that." Geoff explained, but left Ray with even more questions and confusion. "Wha- I never agreed on any of that!" He shouted back, angrily, as the elder man pushed him out of the office and to the hallway.

Burnie chuckled as he passed by the Puerto Rican in the cage, and nodded to Geoff. The tattooed man continued. "You really don't remember yesterday do ya?" Ray raised an eyebrow, then froze. Geoff smirked. "See you later buddy." Ray then slowly figured it out. The bar yesterday. He sighed, moving his palm to his face. "This is why I never drink.." Someone must've gotten him drunk at some point.

Ray shifted and turned, groaning low at the horrible position he was half lying in. He struggled to get up his phone, but after awhile, he finally got it up. "There.." The dark haired man glanced at his battery level, 78%. He'll manage this. Ray sighed and tapped the screen and logged in on Twitter.

- **Ray Narvaez Jr** \- _"Stuck in a damn cage. They're not letting me out. Fuck you guys."_

 

Ray sighed and sent the tweet, then let his phone drop to his chest. He closed his eyes, getting tired of the inactiveness, no contact and the fact that it was 4 pm. Soon he could go home. He was all alone in his apartment too.

Ray yawned. A small nap wouldn't hurt, right? The Puerto Rican closed his eyes and let out a breath, trying to ignore the dull pain in his neck. Soon he fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

"Ghn.." He stirred and shifted, slowly waking up. Ray groaned, "My neck hurts.." He sat up, and immediately hit his head against something hard. "Oufh!" He groaned in pain, holding his head, then realized where he was.

In that god damn little cage.

Ray shifted, his neck aching in pain. "That wasn't the best idea.." He then froze, noticing something. It was pitch black in the office. He quickly fished up his phone and stared at it.

_01:46 AM_

His nap was much longer than expected. _Nine hours_. Ray cursed, then noticed that the cage was still locked. "Fuck." He shook it slightly, then tried to kick it open. It didn't work. "Fuck, fuck fuck _fuck_ _**FUCK**_!" He shouted, trying to kick harder. Why didn't it work!? Ray glanced around, knowing no one was here, but then remembered the phone in his hand. He could call someone. Geoff has the key, he could help him out. "Just to get that—" He cut himself off, as he heard a soft rattling sound.

Ray looked up, and tensed. Then the sound of a knob turning calmed him down. "Finally.." He mumbled, and was just about to shout when he saw the shadow of the person.

It looked like no one he knew, and there was a.. gun looking thing in their arms.

 

Ray gulped. Shit. Someone forgot to turn the alarm on, left him here, and now someone was getting in. Perfect. The steps were slowly getting closer, higher and higher. Ray's heartbeat rose, he could feel the sweat sliding down his neck. "This is why I don't play horror games."

The dark haired man quickly used his strength and finally broke through the cage. The steps stopped, then came back, hesitant. Ray growled, picking up his phone, and started to run, away from the unknown man.

He passed by the Achievement Hunter office, and glanced at the door. Just as he was about to turn to it, the man was in front of him. Ray gulped, then clenched his fists. "Who are you!?" He shouted. No reply. The figure before him had a hood, covering his face, except his mouth. It reminded him of Assassin's Creed.

Ray noticed that the man didn't have a gun, but it was a huge cylinder, with some weird.. green liquid in it. It glowed in the moonlight.

"What... do you want!?" He shouted to the hooded man. A grin decorated his lips. A raspy voice escaped those lips.

"You."

A shiver ran down the gamer's neck, his heart skipped a beat in horror. He clenched his jaw. He wouldn't get out of this. Ray glanced around himself, then made a run for it. He knew these halls better than the unknown man after all.

Ray ran up the stairs, jumped over several, stumbled, and continued up. He turned the corner, and saw a Minecraft wooden sword on a wall. He picked it up, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

The hooded man was right behind him. Ray turned around, and slashed the sword at him. With a grunt, the man blocked the toy sword with his arms, growling, and kicked Ray in his stomach. The Puerto Rican coughed, his eyes wide. He stumbled back, holding his stomach. He threw the sword at the man and continued walking, pain in his stomach with every step. He turned corners and offices, then ran down the stairs once again.

He got to Ryan's desk, and hid under it, catching his breath. "Haah.. Haaah.." He panted, holding his head. How did this happen!? He peered to the side of the desk, to make sure he wasn't there. He couldn't see anyone.

Ray let out a breath in relief. He picked up his phone, and started pressing in the numbers to 911. He was just about to press call when the hooded man appeared before his eyes.

Ray yelped, his eyes wide, and quickly tried to escape. The hooded man grabbed his arms, but the smaller man shook him off, kicking and punching him. "GET OFF ME!" He shouted, then started running again.

Ray had lost the track of time when he had locked himself in the Achievement Hunter office. With shaky hands he took up his phone.

"911, how can I help you?" Ray whispered as loud he could, terrified and hurried. "T-There's this man in my office and he-he I don't know, he's trying to kidnap me or murder me or something a—" Before he could continue, the door burst open, and the hooded man stood there, growling and panting. Ray paled. "Fuck..!" The woman on the other line never had the to track the call since the man crushed the phone with his foot, kicking Ray out of the office with his other foot.

His glasses flew to the other side to the room and broke in two at the crushing contact of the wall. Ray coughed, a metallic taste in his mouth. He crawled away, almost all of his strength lost. He panted, the fear and exhaustion catching up to him.

A hand spun him around, pinning him down. The cylinder with the green liquid was pressed to his chest, a needle at the tip and the liquid was slowly and painfully inserted inside him.

A loud and painful scream echoed through the dark office and into the night.


	2. Infected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray wakes up in a place he's never been in before.  
> Was the carrot necessary?

A slap to his face interrupted his deep sleep. "Gah!" Ray sat up, but the pain in his head forced him to lie down again. He slowly opened his eyes, staring at the person who had slapped him awake. The first thing he noticed, was that everything was blurry, but realized he didn't have his glasses on him.

It was a woman before him, her nose and mouth covered with a mask, her bright white clothes making him more confused. "Am I.. at the hospital?" Ray asked, hesitant, slowly remembering the night before. The woman shook her head, then turned around. "Oh no, dear, you're in a much better place than that." She replied, her voice muffled by the mask. He frowned. What did she mean with that?

She came back, with a small syringe in her hands. It was empty. Ray glanced at it, then at her. "What.. are you doing..?" He gulped, trying to move, then finally noticed the restrictions on his wrists and ankles. "What is this shit!?" He started to panic. She smiled under the mask, but her eyes looked dull. "It's if the pain gets too much." He paled, then started to shake, trying to rip himself free. She moved the syringe closer to his arm.

Ray growled, "Stop it! What is that!?" She sighed, grabbed his arm and dug it down. He gasped in pain, then clenched his jaw as he saw his blood slowly filling it up. She forcefully ripped it out, and didn't even care to put anything to stop the blood leaking out from the wound. Ray bit his lip, closing his eyes. It stung, horribly. The dark haired man glared up at the woman. "What are you gonna do with.." He nodded to the syringe, "that?" She only smiled. "You'll figure out one day." Before he could answer, she dug something in his neck, and he felt himself slowly losing consciousness. Everything went black.

* * *

 When he woke up again, Ray couldn't feel much. His body was numb, the pain dull. He was slowly regaining the memories of last night and the weird woman in that room. He swallowed dryly.

Ray looked around the dim place he found himself in. It was dark, a faint light far away. The floor was cold and hard. The same with the walls. He had a bed, made of simple wooden branches and an uncomfortable mattress. No pillow was visible. The room was half as big as the Achievement Hunter office. Instead of a door, there was a huge glass wall. It made him feel imprisoned and watched.

He gulped. Ray could see a corridor after the glass wall, several other cells to the sides. Low moans of pain and distress could sometimes be heard, muffled, from them. Shivers ran down his spine as he heard them. The corridor had a door at its end. A faint light escaped through the small keyhole.

Three hours - or more, he lost track of time - had passed when the door opened and a man walked in. Ray snapped his head up, the light blinding him for a second. He closed his eyes, then reopened them as he heard the steps growing closer.

A tall man pressed some buttons on a pad on the wall next to him, then a door was visible on the glass wall. He walked in, grabbed the Puerto Rican by his arm and dragged him out. "W-What are you doing?! What do you want!?" Ray shouted, trying to get loose, searching for a way out at the same time.

He silenced as he noticed the other cells around him. Inside were humans, well they looked like humans at least. To his right was a man, a bit older than him, with scales on his skin. He rocked to and back. Ray shivered. To his right was a woman.. but he wasn't sure. _It_ had claws, half opened mouth and blood.. everywhere. He just kept his gaze forward. What was this place?!

The man, well, guard, dragged Ray out of the door and led him to another corridor, but this time brightened up by lights. The gamer looked around, worry sneaking up behind him. He knew this wasn't going to end well.

Ray got thrown from his train of thoughts as the guard shoved him into another room. The door closed behind him. Ray recognized the room and the woman in it. He froze. "Y-You! You where the one wh—" Before he could finish, the woman had pierced his neck's skin with a syringe, making his body grow numb. He fell to the ground limply. He could only move his head and face. "Let me finish what I was saying for once, Christ..!" He growled, as the woman dragged him to the worn hospital bed and, with a bit of awkward difficulties, put him on it.

She was silent, her ash blonde hair tied up in a bun. A mask still covered her mouth, just like last time. Her ice blue eyes were dull and emotionless. Her pale skin had some few freckles over her cheeks and nose bridge. The - nurse? - looked at him, then turned around and grabbed another syringe. "This might hurt." She explained, coldly. Ray widened his eyes as she dug down the needle to his neck, slowly pushing the unidentified liquid into him. His body stung, every vein started to burn and a massive headache blasted his thoughts away. A low scream of pain escaped his lips. His mind blanked out, a white burning cloud blurred his vision. The Hispanic shook in pain, gasping for air.

Minutes later, the pain released and he panted heavily, exhausted. He opened his mouth, but knew it wouldn't help him in any way, and closed it again. A single tear slid down his cheek. Ray closed his eyes and sighed. He'd be here for awhile, he guessed.

Oh how right he was.

* * *

 

When he came to again, a dull aching pain throbbed in his head. Ray groaned, sitting up, then noticed that he was in that cell again. "This is like a bad.. horror game.." He muttered, holding his head. The Hispanic glanced around, then remembered the days before.

"Dammit.." Ray croaked out, noticing how thirsty he actually was. He looked up, but saw no sign of food or water. He curled up closer to his chest, shaking a bit from the cold air. The Puerto Rican looked up, and noticed a small black blob on the roof of his cell. He stood up, walking to it. He frowned, examining the unknown thing. He jumped, trying to touch it, but he was too short. "Fucking 5'8.." He murmured to himself.

The blob suddenly shined red. He took a step back, as it turned green then back to its original color, black. "Wha—" He never got the chance to comment as a red lazer was pointed to his chest. Ray gulped. "I hope this isn't like Portal.." He mumbled low.

As quickly he could blink, the black blob shot a tiny syringe to his chest. He gasped, staggering backwards. The syringe was only visible by the red color at its end. But the needle was some centimeters long, and had pierced his skin. His R&R connection shirt wasn't to much help.

As the contains of the syringe started to flow through him, he grabbed it and pulled it out, gritting his teeth in pain. It wouldn't hurt much normally, but the liquid inside it did do something to his nerve system. His legs gave through, and he fell to the ground. His whole body shook and he curled up, then let out a scream of agony and stretched out as much as he could. Basically, his whole body hurt like a bitch. 

* * *

He didn't register when he had passed out, but when he woke up, his whole body ached, especially his head. His hearing felt better somehow, but he couldn't remember why. His breath got caught in his throat as he held his head.

A sticky substance connected to his fingers. Ray quickly moved his hands to his vision, and stared at them.

Blood. Blood everywhere.

His eyes widened, trying to find the injury. But he found nothing.

Literally, _nothing_.

"Ah—ahh- wh-what is this—?!" He slowly started to freak out. "My ears..!?" Right where his ears should be, was nothing. Just a bloody patch of skin. Was there two ears lying around _somewhere on the floor?!_

"Wait.." He slowly calmed down, since he noticed something else. If his ears was gone, then how could he even hear? Gulping, he slowly moved his hands to his upper head, where it hurt the most. He froze in place when he felt them.

As he feared, two _things_ had sprouted out of his head, fluffy but a bit bloodied. He bent down his head to see how long they were. Ray bit his lip, they were longer than he thought.

"I'm a fucking bunny." He muttered to himself, shaking still. Ray then froze. "Wait." He felt something on the lower part of his back. He moved to it, and as he thought, a fluffy small tail had erupted there.

"I—I'm a _bunny_?!" He cried out, the confusion and shock getting the hand of him.

At the same moment, the door opened to the cell corridor. Unconsciously, his now ears fell back, a nervous fear flowed through him. A man walked through the door, and straight for his cell. Ray gulped, his ears turning a bit, still pointed backwards.

The man stopped just in front of his cell, then nodded and proceeded to say something to the mic in his ear. Ray swallowed dryly when the man opened the door to his cell, walking towards the Hispanic gamer. He held a small electrocute staff, in case Ray would fight back. "I suppose that's not a toy." Ray commented under his breath. The man huffed, and raised it. Ray gulped. "Woah man, chill dude! No need to get all feisty now." The Puerto Rican started, but the man only got closer. "Dude, just look at me, how could a bunny seriously hurt you?" Ray continued, and he convinced the guard to lower the staff-thing.

The -bunny?- gamer walked to the guard, raising his hands up in the air. When he got close enough, Ray uppercutted the guard in his chin, groaned inwardly at the pain, then kicked his knee as hard as he could, a sickening crack filled their ears. The man screamed in pain, and fell to his knees. Ray quickly ran out of the cell, but fell down, since the man had grabbed his left ankle. Ray struggled to get loose, to get free. "Let go you asshole!" He growled, shaking his foot, kicking it. He finally got loose and quickly stood up again, running up to the door.

"No.." It was locked.

"Nononono.. Open! **OPEN**!" He tried to get through, he slammed against it, but nothing would make it budge. "Fuc—!!" He arched his back in pain as he felt electricity flow through his body. The man had crawled up to him and jammed the staff into his back, a cry of pain escaped the dark haired gamer's throat. He slid down the door, his body shaking and paralyzed, temporary.

The man spoke in his ear mic, but Ray couldn't pick any of it up. He was in too much pain at the moment.

* * *

The man had called for another guard, who helped him out, and dragged the now unconscious gamer out of the room. They pulled him into a new room, with pure white walls, floor and ceiling. Ray stirred awake, looking around himself, confused over how he got here. Unconsciously he sat up, then up on his feet. He could hear his stomach growling low. He hadn't gotten any food in some days now. As on cue, a plate rolled in from a sealed window, which opened for him. He hurried to it.

"Water, not surprised with tha—" Ray stared at the other side of the plate. His eyebrow twitched. "Are you fucking kidding me." He stomped his foot unconsciously. "A fucking **carrot**!?" The Hispanic growled out, shouting at no one. "I'm not actually a stupid bunny!" No reply. He sighed.

That carrot did seem pretty nice to eat though..

"... YOLO right..?" He mumbled under his breath, grabbed the water, gulping it down, then took the carrot in his hands. "...." Ray stared at it, his mouth watering. Quickly he took a bite, then ate all of it. His stomach was a bit more pleased now.

Ray let out a sigh, then sat down again on the white floor. His hands still had dried blood on them. The Puerto Rican examined his hands, and the dried blood, then let his thoughts take over him. Did the others in the office notice he's gone? Are they safe? Has he been here for longer than he thinks? Did they actually try to search for him? What about the Achievement Hunter guys? Maybe they found his glasses on the floor?

His thoughts was snapped away from him as the door opened. A woman and a man stood by the door.

"You're lucky."

Before Ray could think of a reply, he was shot with a sleeping drug and slumped down to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you got any questions, please do ask.


	3. Calm before the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the meanwhile, in the office, chaos is beginning to stir.

To be awaken by his boss shouting at him through the phone wasn't something Ryan had thought would happen.

He was still half asleep when Geoff called him.

"Wh..at.." He mumbled through the phone, still in bed.

_"Ryan! Thank god, at least someone is awake!"_

The panic in the older man's notice caused Ryan to sit up straight in bed. "What's wrong?" He asked, trying to stay calm. The Ramsey continued. _"Ray's gone."_

On a normal basis, that wouldn't send a terrifying shiver down his spine, but with Geoff like this, he knew something was horribly wrong.

"Wh- How can you be so sure?"

_"His- He was stuck in the cage yesterday remember? It's broken. And the door was unlocked and the alarm wasn't on and he won't pick up his phone and.. Fuck."_ It got silent on the other side of the line.

"Geoff?"

_"Get here, **now**."_

Ryan never have been this quick getting ready before, taking the quickest shower ever known to mankind, pulled on the first pair of jeans he could find and a random Achievement Hunter shirt. Which one he didn't recall.

When he got to the office, his hair was still wet and he quickly called Geoff to tell him he's here. The tattooed man opened the door for him, which he noticed, was broken. Ryan gulped. Something was seriously wrong. The cage, right where he remembered it, was still there, but the door was broken, just like Geoff said.

"Look, he hasn't replied on any of my texts, and that was a shitload of them, and he wouldn't pick up either." Ryan nodded at the older man, then went to the Achievement Hunter office. " _Geoff_." The tattooed man walked in behind him, his eyes widening at the sight.

The chairs were thrown everywhere, except one on the far end. One table had fallen to the floor, some fanarts almost ripped. One black PS3 had a crack in it, and the Xbox One had gotten squashed by something - or someone - falling on it. The camera they had in the corner of the office wall was ripped down, thrown to the ground.

But that wasn't the worst things. _Ray's_ iPhone was basically killed, stepped on. And close to the door was the Puerto Rican's glasses, cracked in two.

In the middle was a small pool of dried blood. The two men paled. Ryan felt his heartbeat raise. This wasn't happening.

"H.. How did.. Who would do this!?" He turned to Geoff, as if he could answer his question, but knew that he couldn't. Geoff shook his head. "I.. don't.." Anger started to pour out from him. "I'm gonna kill the bastard." Ryan gritted his teeth, but worry of wondering where Ray could be took over his anger. "We have to find Ray, we- we need to call the cops, now." And that was exactly what they did.

* * *

 When Michael got to the office, the police was leaving. Ryan growled, sitting at an empty table, having just talked to the cops. Apparently they couldn't find any fingerprints, since they think the culprit wore gloves. But they would come back later, trying to find out from what they gathered now. But Ryan was far from pleased. Ray was gone, and no one could find him.

If they didn't put him in that cage, this wouldn't have happened. Ray would be in the office and kicking their asses on whatever game they were playing.

"Ryan!" His thoughts was interrupted by an angered Michael. "What in the shit is happening!? I saw the cops driving out of here and a shitload of missed calls from Geoff, and from you! Did you _actually go mad this t_ —"

"Ray got kidnapped." Ryan interrupted the younger man. His voice was cold, almost broken, and exhausted.

Michael froze in his steps. "Wh-... _What?_ " Ryan sighed, looking up at the freckled man. "Ray is gone, he- he disappeared during the night. W-We don't know what- what happened to him!" Ryan raised his voice a bit, standing up. His clenched fists was shaking. "He-.. He's gone." Michael frowned, his face shocked and confused. But he realized quickly that Ryan was taking this harder than he did. The rage quitter bit his lip, then hugged the taller and older man. "Calm down man, it— we'll find him." Ryan slowly calmed in Michael's grip, then closed his eyes. "You're right."

* * *

Everyone in the office knew about Ray's absence by the next day. People asked if anyone saw him after closing, but no one had recalled seeing him. As much as Geoff wanted to keep looking, he knew they had to film more videos.

When the videos went viral the next day, people asked where Ray was. They didn't want to reveal it to the public yet, that their favorite Hispanic was gone, kidnapped, so they only said that he was visiting his relatives. There was still questions, but it calmed them down a bit.

But after the third day, the cops came back and said that by now that they were looking for a _corpse_ , instead of one alive. Ryan almost punched the police in the face as he said that, but Michael and Geoff pulled him back. Ray was alive, he was sure of it!

Gavin took the news pretty hard, having just gotten back from England the day after. First, he got angry, then sad, then broke down, only replying to Michael.

After an hour, he started to understand what was happening. "So, the bloody cops are saying that now, after three, well four, days, they're not actually looking for Ray, but his corpse!?" Ryan nodded, not meeting his gaze. He kept his eyes glued on the screen. "Did they even find anything?" Gavin asked, a bit calmer. Jack answered this time. "The cops said they did find a vehicle leaving the building around two am, and now they're trying to track it down." The Brit sighed.

Geoff sat down next to Ryan, raising an eyebrow at the screen. "And what the fuck are _you_ doing?" His sentence gained the attention of the other three Achievement Hunters. Ryan sighed. "I'm doing what the cops should've done ages ago." Gavin peered in closer, causing Michael to almost fall on top of him. A low grunt and a mumble of 'asshole' followed. Jack couldn't help but to chuckle. "You hacked in to the Rooster Teeth alarm website?" Ryan shrugged, "You learn stuff from GTA, right?" Michael shook his head. " _Ryan the creepy hacking guy_." The 'Mad King' chuckled, then finally found what he searched for. "Alright, here's the night where Ray got locked in.." He mumbled, and sped up a bit.

"There!" He pointed to the screen, as a hooded man walked into the office, holding a weird looking thing.. A syringe? "What the actual fuck?" Michael muttered. The man looked up at the camera, straight at them, smirked, then raised a knife, jumped and broke it. The gamers paled. This could be worse than they thought. Ryan quickly changed to the next camera, but couldn't see much.

It started to get blurry, then Ray ran by, a terrified expression on his face. Ryan could feel his blood run cold by the look. "Fucking hell.." Michael murmured low. Gavin's hands were shaking. "Bloody 'ell Ray.." The next camera was already broken. The only one left was inside the Achievement Hunter office.

You couldn't see the floor, only half of the walls and up. When Ray almost crashed through the door, all of the men jumped up in their seats, their heartbeats raising. The Puerto Rican crawled up, just below the camera, out of reach from the camera. Geoff cursed low. They were silent, the only thing to be heard was their breathing.

When the hooded man crashed into the room, Gavin yelped, causing Michael to fall off him into the floor. "You fucker!" Ryan didn't even let his eyes leave the screen. He kept looking, and gripped into the mouse as the man stomped on Ray's phone, then kicked him into camera vision. Ryan hissed low. The man had kicked Ray's glasses into the wall, breaking them into two. They couldn't see Ray anymore, as he lied on the ground, crawling to the door. The man walked to the Hispanic, stood over him, holding him down, probably. They couldn't see much, only the back of the hooded man. It horrified them even more when the man took forth the huge - syringe? - and stuck it down into the gamer.

Ryan gritted his teeth, anger pouring out. The unknown man turned around, straight to the camera. He jumped up on the desk, and took down the camera, _smirked_ , then threw it down to the ground. The last thing the saw was Ray's still body, his head turned to the camera. His eyes was opened, panic written all over his face. He coughed, a bit of blood escaping his lips. He slowly lost consciousness. Then the camera blacked out.

"I'm going to kill that fucker." Ryan claimed, glaring at the screen. Jack glanced over to the sand blond haired man. "We all will, but finding Ray - alive - is the most important task right now. We'll send this to the cops, and they'll track him down." The bearded man turned to Ryan. " _And_ find Ray." Ryan sighed, but nodded.

Michael, having seen almost all of it, walked around in the office, holding his head, trying to calm himself down. He breathed deeply and slow, then sat down, in his chair. "Dammit Ray.." Gavin walked over to Michael, and just sat down on the floor next to him. He looked down on the floor.

Geoff looked at an empty Red Bull can. He grabbed it and threw it at the wall. "Dammit. Dammit...! **DAMMIT**!" He shouted, kicking the floor. Ryan sighed. He turned to Jack, who still sat next to him. 

"... Let's go to the cops." Jack nodded. "I'm coming too." Geoff claimed, taking his car keys. "C'mon. I'll drive."


	4. First symptoms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan really needed to set his phone on silent during the mornings to save himself sleep and from heart attacks.

After the gents visited the police office, they had to stay there for awhile. Questions were asked and answered. The cops said they could probably scan the video and find this hooded man in at least some days, but it was harder because of the hood and the dim light.

When they got back to the office, it was getting late, only Michael and Gavin left there, waiting for the results. Jack told them what they got when they returned, but only made Michael more pissed off, wanting to know where his friend was, now.

"They're supposed to be the fucking police! The 'law' or whatever! And they can't fucking find him!?" He yelled, running a hand through his hair. "'A few days'?! He could be /dead by then!" His words echoed through the office, a dead silence fell over them. Michael noticed his slip up. "..." But no one say anything.

Geoff sighed. "Alright, listen up fuckheads. We will find Ray, and when we will, I'm gonna punch the living soul out of him." He folded his arms. "Then tell him to never drink again, and that sounds really weird, coming from me." Gavin and Jack smiled, then all of them nodded. "Good." Geoff smiled, "Alright, it's getting late as dicks, and I need a drink then sleep." The five gamers walked out of the office, Gavin following Geoff, not wanting to be alone in his apartment, missing his old room in the gent's house. Ryan said his goodbyes, and quickly drove home. Jack did the same, so did Michael, but he looked a bit nervous.

All of them did.

Something felt really wrong, and they knew they would find out soon.

 

* * *

 

Once again, Ryan woke up by a call. "What is it.." He muttered, tired as hell. He didn't get much sleep last night, sitting at his computer, worrying about Ray.

_"Get here- ju-just get here now!"_

His boss' horrified and broken voice shot him up from his bed. He held the phone to his ear, and he could hear muffled noises, probably from Gavin or someone else in the background.

_"Hurry!"_

Ryan closed the call, throwing it to his bed, and ran up to get ready, faster than the other morning. When Ryan got there, he was still out of breath, panting heavily and knocked, almost slammed his fist, against the door. Michael - to his surprise- opened the door quickly, his face pale and hands shaking. Ryan ran inside, searching for Geoff, who was inside the Achievement Hunter office. "What ha—"

Ryan stopped dead in his tracks.

On the ground lied a figure, face covered with a mask and hood, tied together by his wrists and ankles. The rope was loosely draped around his neck. The figure looked suspiciously like their favorite Puerto Rican.

Ryan kneeled down next to the hooded figure, who was most likely Ray. Geoff sat on the other side, checking his pulse. "He-He's alive, but barely." Ryan turned up to the tattooed man. "When did you find him?"

"I did." Michael replied, staring at Ray, biting his lip. "I-I wanted to get here a bit earlier to check on some shit and then I fucking saw this!" The gents looked back at each others, then nodded.

Ryan carefully took off the rope around his neck, then slowly pulled off the mask. As they thought, under the mask was Ray, bruised and pale. A stick-it note was glued to his cheek. It read, "You're lucky." Ryan clenched his yaw. He then noticed the blood. He slowly pulled a bit of the hood covering the back of his head down, but quickly ran up and covered his mouth. He leaned against the wall, his face pale, not looking back.

Geoff was shocked by his co-worker's actions and took a look for himself. His eyebrows rose, he paled and swallowed dryly. Ray's ears was gone. No scar was visible though, but he couldn't see much through the dried blood. When Ryan turned back around, with Michael at the doorway, Geoff pulled down the hood all the way. It surprised them even more over what they found. Two rabbit ears. Two big rabbit ears.

"What the actual fuck!?" Michael half yelled out, walking a bit closer. "How- what- what did they do!?"

Ryan didn't know what to do. "Th—They.. turned him into a rabbit." Geoff stood up, breathing heavily and angrily. "Ryan, you call 911. You guys stay the fuck here, I need to call Griffon or she'll kill me for not telling her or Gavin, who was sleeping, anything and going to job at five am." Ryan nodded, not actually noticing how early it was until now. He fished up his phone, pressed the three numbers quickly and told them what happened. Ish.

When the paramedics did come, they were shocked that Ryan was telling the truth, that someone did put animal ears on Ray. What angered Ryan though was that only 'close family' could come in the hospital truck. Geoff stepped in, just closed the call with Griffon, and told them he was their boss, but even he got turned down.

Ryan did use a cheap trick, that slipped out of his mouth quicker than he could think of it. "I'm his boyfriend." A blush covered his cheeks as he realized what he said, but didn't think anything more of it, since they let him in. He could feel Geoff and Michael's confused glares on his back. But they nodded, knowing he would watch over the younger man.

Geoff and Michael was left in the empty office after Ryan left. "Michael, gimme a glass of water." Geoff sat down in a chair, his head resting against his hands, his elbows at the table. The curly haired man's eyebrows rose, but didn't ask. For now. He poured two glasses of water, one for himself and one for the older gamer. Michael sat down, giving the glass to Geoff, who mumbled a thanks. "So no liquor?" The tattooed man shook his head, then gulped down the water. He grimaced. "Maybe later, but right now I need a clear mind." Michael shrugged, and drank his glass of water. And then ran to the sink and spit it all out. Well almost all of it.

"What the fucking fuck is wrong with the water!?" He yelled, spitting more out, trying to get the disgustingly bitter taste out from his mouth. Geoff frowned and ran up to Michael, "Wha-What is it?" Michael coughed, "The water- it's it tastes like fucking shit!" The older gamer raised an eyebrow, "I thought that's how water tasted these days." He muttered, gaining a glare from the freckled man. "You need to stop drinking."

"Nah."

Geoff then lead Michael to the couch, letting him sit there, and catch his breath. "I'll get some coke to pour it down." The rage quitter nodded, coughing. The tattooed man ran to the fridge again, then coughed, noticing the horrible taste, and took out two cans of coke. He opened one, poured it down, sighing at the taste, then ran to Michael and gave him the other one. Geoff sat down next to him, drinking the coke, coughing sometimes, then put down the drink. He let out a breath. "... I'll just.." He fished up his phone, and texted Griffon.

**Hey, do you know if there's something wrong with the tap water?**

******_Check the news. Now._ **

A bit concerned, the man walked back into the Achievement Hunter office and turned a screen on, and went to the news.

_-"nd apparently we've received a lot of people saying the water is bad-"_

Geoff's eyes widened, "Michael! Get here!!" The redhead ran into the room, coke in hand. He stared at the screen, listening and watching.

_"-we've looked into it and yes, it is, so do not drink from the tap water under any circumstances under the next days. It's not something serious yet, but you'll get a great headache and a sore throat. Anything else is unclear."_

Geoff blinked. He turned to Michael. "... Unclear..?" The short tempered young man stood up and ran a hand through his curly hair. "Mother of fucking _christ_.." A colorful string of curses escaped his lips. "I _poisoned_ us.." Just then, a certain Brit stormed into the office, falling over his own feet and face palmed straight to the floor. "Bloody bugger smegpot...!"

Gavin struggled up, only to notice the other two gamers staring at him. Geoff blinked, then burst out laughing at the clumsy Brit. "You stupid clumsy fuck!" Gavin pouted, then stood up. "I'm not!" He turned to Michael. "Tell him I'm not Micool!" The brunette chuckled. "You're my boi, but you're still clumsy as fuck, Gav." He replied, forgetting the seriousness just seconds ago. Gavin whined, "You two are mean gobby little donuts!" Michael laughed, "I have no idea what you just said, but whatever." He let his eyes waver over Gavin's pouting lips for a bit longer, then turned to Geoff.

Gavin turned to the screen. "So, what are you looking at?" Michael and Geoff sighed. " _Well_ ," Their boss started, "Apparently the water is crappy and we can't drink it." The Englishman raised his eyebrows. "Really? Then I'm glad I didn't drink water this morning after you left!" Michael and Geoff silenced. Gavin looked at them. ".. You two drank the bloody water?!" Michael slumped back in a chair. "I didn't know that it was fucking bad until we drank it!" Gavin frowned, worry creeping up on him. He hoped it was nothing though.

Geoff closed his eyes. "Alright, let's stay here, hoping nothing else than headaches and sore throat will happen to us, and if it gets worse we'll contact the hosp— **ghn!!** " The mustached man groaned, holding his head, which started to pound heavily. "Wh-What the fuck—!?" The blurs of his name being shouted was faint, and he fell to his knees from the chair. He gripped his head, almost screaming out in pain. Well that sure was some strong headache.

 

* * *

While in the hospital truck, Ryan held Ray's pale hand, to not blow his cover and to let him know that he was _safe_. The blond haired man sighed, only responding to the paramedics every once and then. The woman checked Ray's pulse, making sure he wasn't slipping away. She asked Ryan some questions he raised his eyebrows to. Most of them were about the water, if he had drank any of it. Thinking back, he just shook his head, he only showered this morning, but only barely. She nodded, and carried on.

"... Is the tap water infected by something?" Ryan asked, after some time of silence. She nodded, again. "We are not sure what it is, but it's there." She looked up at the blond. "The infected get massive headaches and sometimes sore throats. Anything else is unkn—" Before she could finish her sentence, her work phone rang. She quickly picked it up, and answered it.

"This is Hanna, what is it?" She was suddenly shocked, her green eyes widening. "Wha—" Hanna glanced down at Ray, then back up. "Are you sure? ... Ok. I'm soon there, and I.. I think I got the first one." Ryan frowned, _what? The first one?_ He had no idea what that was all about, but he felt like he would find it out soon enough. He pressed his hand against Ray's a bit tighter.

 

* * *

 

"Get a wet towel and a bowl now!" Michael yelled out orders to the Brit, who ran out from the office to get the things. On the floor kneeled Geoff, holding his head in pain, screaming out low. "It hurts! It h-hurts like dicks!" The tattooed man screamed out, shaking slightly.

Gavin hurried back, holding a wet towel and a bowl. Michael looked up, gulping. "I-I think we need to get out of here, we- we can't be here." Gavin nodded, worried.

The two carried Geoff out of the building, and into Michael's car. With Gavin and Geoff in the backseat, the curly haired gamer drove off, ignoring the slight headache nagging at him. He glanced back every once and then, making sure Geoff was alright. Gavin made some inaudible sounds of worry.

After awhile, the Brit broke the silence. "Micool, it-it's getting worse- it's getting worse!" His voice cracked, and Geoff's pained noises got louder. "He-He's bleeding! Hurry! Hurry!" Michael gripped the stirring wheel tighter, trying to not get them hit by traffic. "Micool! It's not g—"

"SHUT UP!" Michael hissed loudly, sounding more like an animal than a human. It shut Gavin up, and Geoff lowered his groans a bit, whining in pain. He didn't notice how pale the Brit looked after he screamed at him. Minutes of silence later, Michael parked the car and they hurried out, helping - _carrying_ \- Geoff up the stairs and through the door.

Just as Gavin said, Geoff was indeed bleeding from his forehead, right where his hairline was. "Unclear my ass.." Michael muttered low. He clenched his jaw at his own headache, but shook it off. It was growing bigger at every movement he made, but couldn't care less right now. The Jersey boy hurried to get wet towels.

When he came back, Michael heard terrified noises from Gavin, and screams from Geoff. "M-Micool! There's something growing out from his head!" The freckled man was utterly concerned now. What the _fuck_ was happening?! Gavin had put the gent on Michael's couch, which was starting to get drips of blood on it. The Jersey boy cursed, then quickly gave the Brit the towels.

Michael groaned, holding his head. The headache was getting unbearable. "Ghn..!" Gavin looked up, after he just had wiped carefully off the blood from the Ramsey's face. "What's wrong my boi?" His voice was filled with concern. Michael just ignored him, shutting his eyes tighter, trying to block out the headache, and everything else. "Micool?" Gavin went on, getting worried over the Jersey boy. But he got no reply, only a pained grunt. " _Michael_ , listen to m—"

**"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"** Michael roared, his eyes slitted, like a cat's. His teeth was sharper and his hair seemed to curl up more as he hissed. He breathed heavily, keeping his gaze upon the Brit for a bit longer, then gave in to the pain and fell to his knees. He couldn't hear Gavin's faint whimpers, a thick throbbing echoed in his ears. He clutched his head tight, then screamed out again as the pain got too much.

Gavin felt the panic flow through his body, no idea what was happening to Geoff and his boi. The Brit made some inaudible nervous sounds, trying to think of things to help the two. He quickly ran to get more wet towels, blocking out the screams of Geoff and Michael in the background.

This will be a long day.

 

* * *

 

White.

That was the first and only thing he saw when he opened his eyes.

Not the screeching white that burns your eyes out, neither the dirty white. Just plain, calming white.

His eyes shut heavily. For eyelids to be this heavy wasn't something you'd think, since they're so thin. But he felt as if they were glued together.

He felt something warm holding his hand, but couldn't care about it at the moment. He just hoped that this wasn't where he'd been the latest days.

He slowly fluttered his eyelids open again, taking in his surroundings. He saw a note on the blanket that was pulled over his body. The Hispanic tried to focus his eyes, but he noticed his glasses was nowhere to be seen. The Puerto Rican could only see a black blob of letters. He felt weak, only able to move his head around for now. Ray opened his mouth to speak, but only coughed violently. His throat was dry as sand.

What, or who, reacted from his cough wasn't someone he thought he'd see, at least not for a long time, considering from what he just had gone through.

Holding his hand, eyes wide and expression worried and concerned, was Ryan.

Ray unconsciously flinched slightly from the touch. Ryan didn't seem to notice. That blonde man was looking down at him, and then spoke. "Ray! You're awake! How- how are you feeling?" Ray felt his cheeks warm up from the sudden affection he got from the older. "Wh-" He coughed again, then looked around and pointed at the glass of water on the table behind Ryan. The older quickly noticed what he was asking for and reached for the glass.

Ray soon found himself gulping down the water. He frowned. Coughed. "This- this isn't normal water..?" Ryan shook his head, "It's mineral water, they give that to the patients, since the tap water is infected by some virus." Ray frowned. "Virus..?" The older man nodded. "It can cause headaches and.." He looked away. "Other things." The Puerto Rican stared at Ryan. "What other things, Ryan?" "Just.." Ryan was keeping something from him, but Ray couldn't figure out what. "It's unclear.. For now at least."

Ray sighed and closed his eyes again. "For... how long was I gone?" The Hispanic asked, too tired to open his eyes at the moment. He heard Ryan sigh. ".. A week."

Ray bit his lower lip. A whole week. He really did lose track of time when he was kidnapped. "I'm sorry.." He whispered low. Ryan didn't catch it.

His ears twitched, and he frowned. He opened his brown eyes and caught Ryan staring. The Hispanic bit his lip. "How is it to work with a rabbit..." He tried to find a suitable word, ".. hybrid now, Ryan?" He said, causing the older to chuckle, then frown. ".. I can't believe they did this to you."

Ryan stood up, clenching his fists. "They-They _mutated_ you! Well, it looks kinda cute, but they cut off your ears!" A faint hint of pink decorated the Hispanic's cheeks. But he didn't comment it. Ryan kept on going. "What if this will continue? What if you might _actually turn into a rabbit? What if y—_ " Ray grabbed Ryan's wrist, sitting up in bed, calming the older down. He ignored the aching pain in his back. "Ryan. Calm your shit."

Ray stared into Ryan's deep blue eyes, and his rabbit ears unconsciously stood up straight. Ryan bit his lip. Yeah, it was totally cute as hell.

"Alright, before you make any bad Barbra puns about my ears, can you find my damn glasses for me? I have another pair in my apartment somewhere." He looked around, then noticed that Ryan already had his keys. He didn't ask how or why he got them. "Well, I can't see jack shit, so hurry if you can." Ray frowned, "It's giving me a headache." The blond chuckled, then quickly nodded. "I'll see what I can do. If you've forgotten, I wrote my number down on that stick-it note on the nightstand over there." Ryan smiled, "And oh yeah, Jack was where before but he had to.. run. But call a nurse if you need me or something, since you're pretty much blind." Ray glanced to his side, noticing the small table, then nodded. "Now go!"

 

* * *

 

When Ryan was out of the hospital, driving to the Puerto Rican's apartment, was it first when he noticed Gavin's missed calls. Eleven of them. He paled. "Shit."

Quickly, he called the Brit.

"Ga—"

_"Ryan! Oh bloody hell, Ryan,"_

Why is everyone so terrified when they call him these days?

_"I-I need some help- it's-"_

The groans and screams of pain in the background didn't help the blond to calm down at all.

_"It's the water!"_ Gavin shouted through the phone. Ryan groaned as a response, not believing how things even could get worse. And they were. "I'm coming."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, I've been really busy with school and stuff.. ;3; but I'm back~ Please do comment and tell me what you think~!


	5. Instincts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The infected is started to get.. animalistic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jesus I'm so sorry for being so late, I've been busy with school and being sick and other stuff.. Sorry. But here's the chapter~

All Jack wanted this morning was a nice cup of coffee and to find Ray.

He kind of got one of them. When Ryan called him at seven am sharp, stating that they had found Ray, he shot up from bed and rushed to the hospital.Jack had found Ryan and Ray in a room far to the right at the end of the fourth floor corridor. It was a hell to get up all those stairs.

To see the Hispanic in such state terrified him. Ray was pale, bruises decorated his body like purple blossoms. But what shocked him the most were the rabbit ears stuck - or grown - on his head. His head was bandaged, so Jack couldn't see much, but he noticed his human ears did seem to be gone. Ryan told him how they found the younger.

".. Who would do that?" Jack finally asked, breaking the long silence that had fallen over them. Ryan sat down in the chair next to Ray's bed. He sighed, looking over the shorter. "Beats me. But if I find them, I won't hesitate to kill them." The former model growled out low, clenching his fists.

Jack looked down at Ray again, then frowned. He didn't know what to say. "... You want anything to drink? I can fix some coffee." Ryan mumbled a 'yes thank you' and so the ginger was off to find caffeine.

When he came back, he held two coffees and a glass of mineral water for when Ray wakes up, he noticed that Ryan had fallen asleep in the chair, his head resting next to Ray's, holding his hand. Jack couldn't help but to smile. He put the mineral water on the table, along with the coffee for Ryan. The bearded man quickly wrote a note for Ray, then glanced at the time. "Sorry Ryan, but gotta go."

Jack started to walk away, unconsciously counting the hospital rooms. He frowned, holding his head, a headache forming. ".. Weird.." The bearded man kept on going, went inside the elevator and hoped the headache would disappear. The doors opened to the second floor, and the headache was getting worse.

He breathed heavily, leaning against the walls. Jack clenched his fists, then felt something drip down. He raised his hands, noticing the blood and unnaturally sharp nails. "Wha..?" He rasped out, then saw a doctor running to him from the floor he was on. Jack felt his knees buckle and then everything went black. He never noticed his phone ringing.

 

 

[...]

"Oh shit shit shit shit.." Gavin mumbled, right now running away from a certain red head. "Shit shit shit!" He threw a glance over his shoulder, noticing Michael still chasing him.

The Jersey boy's eyes was slitted and yellow, glowing slightly at the dim light. His curls had grown a bit on his head, forming cat ears. His teeth was sharper than a normal humans, and his hands looked more like claws. Well, at least a cat's.

Gavin gulped.

What was happening!?

Gavin stopped for a second, making Michael run into him. Both of them fell to the floor and Gavin quickly pushed Michael down, sitting on top of the American. The Brit held Michael's wrists over his head, making sure he wouldn't scratch him. "Michael," the Brit tried his best to calm the other down, speaking slowly and intense, "listen to me, you need to c-calm down." Gavin looked deep into Michael's catlike eyes.

But the Jersey boy wouldn't calm down. He croaked out two words. "Bird." A grin decorated his lips. "Food." Michael purred out the word, sending shivers down Gavin's spine. "Michael- no- I'm not a bird, nor f-food!"

The Brit had no idea what the hell was happening, but suspected the infected water to be the culprit of it all.

"I'm sorry my boi." Gavin bit his lip then reached out to a lamp next to him. Michael hissed and got one hand loose, running his fingers down Gavin's cheek and down to his collarbone, leaving long scars. The Brit gasped and whimpered in pain, screaming low at the sudden pain, then quickly hit the red head with the lamp. Michael was knocked out.

Gavin panted, holding his neck, noticing the blood. He glanced down at Michael, his boi. What could've been in the water that made him act like this?

The Brit jumped up in the air as someone slammed their fist on the door. It must be Ryan. Gavin hurried up, holding his neck, to stop the blood, but it wasn't that deep.

The Englishman opened the door, revealing a shocked gent. It was Ryan indeed, but he looked tired, really tired."Gavin..?" The 'Mad King' walked inside, but stared at the long injury on Gavin's cheek down to his collarbone. "Wh-What the fuck happened!?"

"... Just.. get in." The shorter man looked exhausted as well, but more bloodied. He led Ryan to the living room, noticing how quiet Geoff got. It made him hurry up his pace a bit.

"Wha- Michael!" Ryan ran and fell to his knees next to the infected man, noticing the trail of blood down his head. He quickly turned to Gavin, "What happened to him?!" The Brit frowned, looking away. "He.. I don't know, he went all bloody rampage, then I had to knock the bugger out.."

Ryan's eyes widened. For _Gavin to knock Michael out_ , because of raging, wasn't something he'd except. Ever. But he supposed that this wasn't a normal 'rage quit'.

Before he could think any longer, a scream pierced the silence. "Geoff!?" He ran up, to the source of the scream. He found the gent screaming in agony on the floor, Gavin quickly at his side. "Ryan, get some wet t-towels, q-quickly!"

But the blond was frozen to the spot. Geoff had curled  _horns_ growing out from his hairline, blood dripping down from them. His ears seemed longer than a human's and.. fluffier? They looked like a.. "Ram." He wasn't sure if he should laugh or not, but this whole virus seemed to like bad puns.

But a slap to his face threw him out of his frozen state. "Ryan!" Gavin screamed at him, "Get your bloody gobbing ass up and get some towels!" He pushed him up, and Ryan nodded, hurrying to get wet towels.

Finally alone again, Ryan got to actually go through his thoughts. What if this virus is spreading? It had to connect to the guys who kidnapped Ray, right? Since Ray was the first one to turn hybrid. What happened to Jack again? He just.. left. Ryan fished up his phone, sending Jack a message asking where he was. He quickly came back to Gavin with the wet towels. "Here."

The Brit quickly grabbed them and wiped carefully off the blood from Geoff's forehead. The gent was still pretty much in pain though. The tattooed man then slowly fluttered his eyes open, noticing the two in front of him. "Ry..an..? Gav..?" He coughed, his voice raspy and hoarse. Ryan sat down next to his boss, nodding. "Yeah, it's us. Just- calm down now alright?"

Geoff nodded, then hissed out in pain. "The fuck—" He raised his hands, noticing the curled horns coming out from his forehead. "I-I have horns!?" He yelled out, eyes wide. Geoff then froze, his hands going behind his back. "... _Ram_ sey. Are they _fucking_ joking with us!?" He had noticed a tail coming from his lower back, just like the ones rams have.

"Shut up..."

A growl silenced the three.

Gavin paled, his hands shaking, his scar stinging. Ryan gulped. The New Jersey boy had waken up. Michael looked very much terrifying. Not surprised that Gavin was literally shaking his hands off. Michael had sharper teeth, eyes glowing and slitted, his nails like claws and his hair.. Wait.

That's not hair.

The Jersey boy had _cat ears_ on top of his head, turning and twitching at every sound and movement.

Geoff started laughing, holding his stomach. "Oh my g-god!" Ryan glanced at his boss, literally looking at him with a 'what the fuck are you laughing at' face. But Geoff continued. "Michael's a _cat_! A fucking cat!" Gavin chuckled, glancing at Michael, who was now shocked, wondering why they were laughing at him. "You're right Geoffrey, Michael's a cute little kitten!"

Michael suddenly blushed red. "Shut the fuck up Gav!"

Ryan couldn't help but to smile for himself, then his phone rang. He stood up, nodding to Geoff. "I gotta take this, I'll be back. The gent nodded.

The caller was Ray.

_"Ryan! You- where are you?!"_

 The Puerto Rican sounded concerned and a bit scared. Scratch that, the quick breathing told him that Ray was terrified as fuck. Ryan frowned, "I had to run to Michael's house, he and Geoff—"

_"They got infected right"_

Ryan froze. How did he know? "... Yes."

 _"..."_ Ray's breath was light and uneven.

_"... Jack, he- he's still at the hospital."_

Ryan's eyes widened. "What?"

_"This is much more serious than it seems, Ryan."_

Ryan was about to reply, but a cry behind him caught him off guard. Ray shouted on the other side. But the blond didn't reply. "I need to go."

[...]

 As Ryan left, Michael coughed, silencing the laughters between the other two. Gavin looked at him seriously. "Do you need anything?" He peered closer, worried. Michael shook his head, "Nah, I'm fi—"

That's when he noticed the long scratch down Gavin's cheek to his collarbone. Cat-like eyes widened. "How- How did this happen!?" He reached out to the scars, but the Brit backed away, hiding his injuries away from Michael. "It's- It's nothing." His breathing was slightly ragged, his heartbeat quicker.

How Michael could hear his friend's heartbeat probably creeped him out a lot. But that wasn't his main thought at the moment.

His gaze fell down to his palms, his nails longer, and claw-like. He had blood under them, and a bit over. It hit him like a truck. "I.. I did that.. Didn't I?"

Gavin froze, turning back to the New Jersey boy. Geoff watched over the two carefully, making sure they didn't go over the top. Michael raised his voice. "I hurt you, didn't I!?" He felt his rage bubble up inside him, his cat ears twitching backwards.

Gavin bit his lower lip, "It wasn't your fault Michael," He tried his best to sound calm, but it didn't work much, "you lost control, and I had to tackle you t-then—" Geoff jumped in. "It was an accident, you two, just g—"

 _"I COULD'VE KILLED HIM!"_ Michael hissed out, growling. Unconsciously, tears formed in the corner of his eyes.

But before anything else could happen, Ryan was back. "You assholes can't hold yourselves away from y'all even one minute when I'm gone, can you?!" He sighed, frowning.

The three was silent. Michael and Gavin stared at the ground, and Geoff walked over to Ryan. "Who was on the phone?" The former model looked at the other gent. "Ray. It- It seems that Jack.. He's infected too." A long string of curses escaped Geoff's lips. "We need to go to the hospital, even how much I hate to say it."

The three others nodded, and Michael looked up at his boi. "I'm sorry." He whispered, regret and pain filling his voice. Only Gavin heard the whisper. "It's fine my boi."

[...]

_[30 min before]_

Ray Narvaez Jr. was a man who would get bored easily. He could play a game for awhile, perfect it, then get bored again. But to leave him in a white room without his phone or anything else to use, made him really bored. _Really_ bored.

Half an hour had passed since Ryan left him, and he had no idea what to do anymore. The Hispanic sat up in bed, ignoring the headache and his aching back. He grabbed the stall with the transparent liquid connected to his right hand. Ray started walking, out from his room and into the corridor. His rabbit ears twitched at all of the sounds. He could hear much better, but his eyesight was still crap. Ray took slow, agonizing steps, glancing around at other rooms and patients. He ignored the confused and horrid stares he got from people, ignoring the small kid that asked why there's a rabbit here.

Ray leaned slightly at the stall, his breathing ragged and slow. The Puerto Rican turned his head around, then noticed the other patients.

They weren't just any patients either.

To his left was an open room with a man with dog ears grown from his head. On his right was a woman with bird wings erupted from her back. His eyes widened.

So he isn't the only one. But he wasn't just anyone. He was the first.

Ray quickened his pace, trying to find more patients like this. His heartbeat rose, his eyes darting from room to room. Then he froze to the spot.

Room 342, forty rooms from his, lied Jack Pattilo, unconscious, on a bed. He threw away the stall connected to him.

Ray ran inside, breathing quickly. "Jack! Jack..!" His knees gave in in front of the bearded man's bed, and he caught himself on the edge of the bed. Hissing in pain, the hybrid pushed himself up. "Jack..?"

He got no reply.

Ray sighed, then stood up again, wiggling a bit. He looked down at his dear friend and colleague. Jack had small fluffy ears over his head, his human ears nowhere to be seen. His beard seemed longer and thicker than usual. In his unconscious state his teeth was shown, and they seemed much sharper than a humans.

The rabbit hybrid decided to call Ryan. The guy picked up quickly. The brown haired gamer started to explain what was going on, but got cut off by a shout on the other line. He was really worried, but decided on calling Ryan later. He needed him here soon though.

Ray gulped, biting his lower lip. His rabbit ears twisted backwards, shaking slightly. A grunt from the ginger made him jump, but he quickly peered over his friend.

"J-Jack? Can you hear me? Are you alright?" Ray asked, a bit nervous but mostly concerned.

The older man snapped open his eyes, slitted and yellow, glared at Ray like a predator staring down its prey, and let out a low hiss. That hiss turned into a roar. Ray fell back, tumbled to the wall, his eyes wide. Jack sat up, trying to go after the younger gamer, but restrictions on his wrists and ankles wouldn't let him. He growled, his jaw filled with sharp teeth. Jack slowly calmed down and lied back on the bed, loosing consciousness once again and fell into a slumber of sleep.

But Ray didn't slumber away. His heartbeat was raising miles in seconds, his eyes wide and gasping for air. He didn't move.

Minutes passed but he sat still, his arms hugging his legs, knees pressed against his chest. He didn't even blink. Tears started to break through.

He didn't notice his phone buzzing and ringing once.

Nor the second time.

Or the third.

Or the four other times.

All he saw was those yellow eyes glaring at him and those sharp teeth.

His animal instincts had kicked in, leaving him paralyzed to the rest of the world.

He didn't even see the man running down to him, shaking him, holding him. He didn't feel the tears.

He was gone, for now.


	6. Feelings and Geoff really needs a drink.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the boys get to the hospital, their temper is getting shorter, as well as their feelings, now out in the air. Well at least two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so im so sorry for this being so late  
> a lot happened and i was struggling a lot but i managed to finish this so yay  
> a lot of fluff and slight angst in this so be prepared~ and yes please do comment, i love comments.

The car trip to the hospital was the most awkward trip Ryan had ever gone on.

He drove, of course, and the three others was silent as hell. The Team Nice Dynamite mumbled sometimes to each other and Geoff commented on the way once a while.

Ryan sighed. He stopped at the red light, then took up his phone quickly. He had called Ray before leaving, but the guy hadn't answered. He tried calling him again, but no one picked it up.

He frowned, "Hey, Gavin, call Ray real quick." Gavin didn't ask any questions, only picking up his own phone and calling the lad as Ryan drove at the green light. "He didn't pick up," the concern was thick in his voice. 

Ryan clenched his jaw, "... He probably stole a gaming console from a kid," He jokingly replied, but he was really worried.

Hopefully Ray haven't gotten hurt or anything. Ryan took a sharp turn, pressed down the gas and gripped the wheel. In seconds he could see the hospital, slowed down, turned left and quickly parked at the parking lot. He ignored the three commenting on his crazy driving.

"C'mon, we gotta go in."

The four gamers stepped out of the car, and started walking to the entrance. "I hate this place." Michael mumbled, and as on cue, he hissed in pain, holding his head. "F-Fucking headache.." He growled, his cat ears twisting backwards. He leaned on Gavin, who helped him up. Geoff nodded to Ryan, and the four hurried inside.

At the reception, they got a room for Michael quickly, who was close to passing out. Gavin followed him.

"Where's Jack Pattilo's room?" Geoff asked, well, more like _demanded_ from the receptionist. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you- friends?" Geoff nodded, "And I'm his boss so yeah, I need to see him." The woman nodded, paling a bit at the sight of Geoff and Ryan, both of them irritated and impatient.

"He-He's in room 342 on fl— **hey!** " Before she could finish, the gents had ran away, to find the room.

"He's forty rooms from Ray's," Ryan half shouted to Geoff, "I'll check on Ray and you can go to Jack. I'll come after you." Geoff nodded, and they parted, going two different ways. Ryan bit his lower lip as he ran, dodging patients and staff smoothly. His thoughts was starting to catch up to him. He called Ray again. No reply.

He growled, then stopped at the Puerto Rican's room.

He felt his heart miss a beat.

_Ray wasn't there._

Ryan turned his heel and ran back to Jack's room. This couldn't be good.

He almost tripped over himself several times while running, his eyes wide and breathing quick. He saw other hybrid patients, but not Ray.

Ryan cursed low, stumbling before Jack's room, stopping himself. The room felt dark, and he saw Geoff inside, his eyes wide. "Ryan.. G-Get in here." The way his boss' voice cracked made him even more worried.

Ryan walked to Jack's bed, next to Geoff, eyes widening as he saw the lion traits on the ginger man. "Christ.." He ran a hand through his hair, then turned around, his eyes closed. "How did this ha—" Ryan had opened his eyes.

He wished he hadn't.

His breath was caught in his throat. His hand fell down to his side. A shiver ran down his spine.

Before him sat Ray on the floor, his back against the wall, holding his knees against his chest, eyes puffy and red. He was breathing quickly, his rabbit ears shivering and straight up. The Puerto Rican was terrified, staring straight forward. Somehow he hadn't noticed them.

Ryan fell to his knees at the side of the Hispanic. "Ray," he began, but his voice failed him. He sounded so  _broken_. "C-Can you hear me?" Geoff kneeled down at the other side or Ray, worry written all over his face.

"Ray." Ryan said again, more firm. "Answer me." Nothing.

"Ray..?"

He hadn't even moved. He was shaking though, twitching. But it didn't look like it was their doing. Ryan looked up at Geoff, and he looked so concerned. "What.. what is wrong with him?" Ryan looked back at the younger man. "I think.. His animal instincts as a rabbit caused him to.. collapse and paralyze himself," Geoff glanced at Jack, then bit his lip. "Dammit."

Ryan placed his hand on Ray's shoulder, shaking him lightly. "Ray, please.."

"Ray.."

" _Ray!_ " Ryan gritted his teeth, hung his head low and let out a sigh. He wouldn't get a reply, he had figured that out. The gamer sat down next to Ray, his back against the wall. "Geoff," his voice wasn't stable, but he didn't care at this point. "I'll stay here with Ray. You can go call Griffon.. she's probably extremely worried." Shaken, Geoff nodded, standing up, glancing over to Jack, then to Ray, and left.

Ryan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He turned to Ray. "Ray.. _Please_.. wake up." He wrapped his arms around the Puerto Rican, his breathing broken and slow. "I'm here.. You don't have to be scared anymore.." He slowly leaned closer, his eyes shut. "I'm here." He let his lips touch Ray's, a small peck, only lasting a few seconds, but enough to calm the dark haired man a bit. Ryan could hear how his breathing slowed down a bit. He chuckled.

Just like fairy tales.

But Ray didn't wake up.

Ryan pulled the gamer closer to him, feeling how cold he was. He shut his eyes again, feeling how _tired_  he actually was. Soon enough, the tall man was asleep, Ray in his arms.

[...]

With a jolt, he blinked and gasped for air. He looked around, panic running through his veins, then felt strong arms around him and slowly calmed down. The Hispanic frowned.

He recognized these arms.. Ray looked at his shoulder, noticing Ryan's peaceful face. He was asleep. Ray couldn't help but to smile. He looked around again. He wasn't in his room in the hospital.

_Where was he?_ He couldn't remember. All he knew was that he was right now pretty fucking panicked and was sitting on the floor, but in Ryan's arms, so that felt better.

Ray let out a breath. He leaned closer into Ryan, looking at him. Just then, the older man fluttered his eyes open slowly, blinking and staring at Ray.

"Hey."

Ryan's eyes widened slightly, in his sleepy maze, a halo of light seemed to surround the younger man as he looked at him, like an angel awake from their slumber.

"R-Ray..?"

A smile replied Ryan's doubts.

"It's me Rye."

[...]

Gavin had always hated hospitals. Whenever he got sick, which wasn't often, he never went to the hospital, only staying home, telling himself _"nah I'm not going to get sick"_. But he knew he wasn't here for himself, and that kind of calmed himself down, but the reason he was here did make him worry more.

Next to him was his boi, Michael Jones, asleep in a bed. He looked so peaceful, his eyebrows finally not furrowed like usual. Gavin couldn't help but to think that the cat ears grown over Michael's head were actually cute.

He sighed, his hand in Michael's. The Brit had a long bandaid from his cheek down to his collarbone from the scratch Michael had caused. But well, it wasn't really _him_. He wasn't himself.

Gavin looked at that pale, peaceful face with a smile on his face. He leaned closer, placing a soft kiss on the New Jersey boy's cheek.

"You missed."

Gavin froze. _Michael was awake?_

"W-What..?"

Michael smiled, opening his eyes. "Don't ' _wot_ ' me. C'mere."

He pulled Gavin closer, until the space between their lips was gone. A chilling and pulling shiver ran down the Brit's spine, their lips pressing against each other slowly and passionately.

He didn't hear or notice the mumble of a certain mustached man in the doorway, walking away. "Damn love birds.."

Geoff couldn't help but to smile though, knowing how both of them had been looking at each other for a very long time. He walked to a table, sitting down at the chair next to it.

Geoff quickly fished up his phone, unlocked it and started typing a message to Griffon, until she actually called him.

_" **Geoff!** What the **fuck** is going on? You haven't been replying for a very long time."_

He smiled at his wife's voice. "I'm.. kind of ok, since me, Jack, Michael and Ray are infected." She gasped at his statement.

_"You're.."_ She was silent for a long while until she continued, _"... Is there.. anything I can do? I could call Caiti, she probably doesn't know anything yet."_

"Do that, Jack hasn't woken up yet, but.. I think he did something to Ray. No fucking clue exactly, but the guy has been in a shocked state ever since we found him." Geoff sighed, running a hand through his short hair. "Ryan is with him right now."

_"I see. I'll call Caiti and tell her what's going on. Call me if something else comes up."_

"Of course. I love you."

_"Love you too._ " The call ended and Geoff sighed, listening to the beeps until he put down the phone. He buried his face in his hands.

"Rough day?"

He looked up, a man around his age had sat down before him, long bird, probably an eagle, wings sprouted out from his back. His brown hair was messy, green eyes tired.

Geoff nodded. "You bet. Never thought I would grow horns to be honest." He grumbled, waving his hand to the ram horns grown on his head. The man chuckled. "Well, _I_ never thought I'd become a bird." The two smiled.

A silence fell over them. The man looked uncomfortable. He opened his mouth, closed it, not knowing what to say. "Do.. Do you think this.. virus could like.. be vital?" Geoff looked up.

He hadn't really thought of that.

".. I fucking hope not."

He really didn't want to die, more importantly, he didn't want his young employes to lose their lives.


	7. Questions and Hinted Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys decide to film some let's plays and the virus goes worldwide. Tumblr goes crazy and Ray gets some weird questions on ask.fm. What happened to Ryan?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( aka will gavin get pregnant ) jk
> 
> So, Monty's passing struck me hard, but from words from different authors here made me want to continue. Monty himself would probably want us to continue. He wanted to make people happy so we should do our best and keep on going. 
> 
> Enjoy this chapter~

When Caiti got to the hospital, she almost missed Geoff sitting at the tables, slowing down and stopped before him. "Geoff?" The ram hybrid jolted up, half asleep on the table, eyes wide and staring at the woman. He calmed down at the sight of her. "Oh, Caiti, fuck, sorry for falling asleep." She smiled, but it was forced. "It's alright. I can see that you're tired. Where's Jack?" Geoff quickly stood up and hurried to his close friend's room.

Soon enough, they got to the room just in time for them to notice Ray and Ryan up on their feet, walking out of the room. Geoff's eyes widened, stopping, letting Caiti rush in. "Ray, you're- you're awake!" He began, "What happened?" Ray shook his head. "I.." He looked down, "I don't know."

"I'm helping him back to his room," Ryan explained, "he needs some rest." Geoff nodded, letting them pass, then, tiredly, walked back to Jack.

[...]

"I asked you to bring my glasses and you take these guys instead?" Ray smirked, raising an eyebrow at Ryan, waiting for a reply. The taller laughed, "Well, y'know, couldn't help it."

The two chattered lightly about literally everything while walking back to Ray's room. The Hispanic was leaning on the blond, his arm locked with Ryan's arm.

"What.. actually happened that night?" Ryan finally asked as he helped Ray back on the bed. The Puerto Rican was silent. Ryan bit his lower lip, "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to yet but I nee—"

"Someone broke in."

Ryan fell silent, now listening intensely to the brunet.

"I.. I was stuck in that fucking cage still. I had fallen asleep at like three and then I woke up at two." Ray explained, and Ryan couldn't help but to feel a pang of regret, he hadn't noticed the Hispanic still there at the office. "I heard someone come, so I forced myself out of the cage, but he started running after me and I- yeah, you probably noticed the rest." Ryan nodded.

"Then I woke up at this.." Ray raised his hands, trying to explain, "This hospital-ish place and they did all kinds of tests on me, but luckily, I was unconscious for half of it." Ryan clenched his jaw, a murderous feeling building up in his gut. Ray seemed to notice this, but didn't know what to say. So he continued. "They- They had other.. Test subjects, but they seemed pretty failed. If not the amnesia monster was a success that is." He joked half-heartedly, then kept on talking.

"I.. I seemed to be the only.. success. I tried to break out after these," He pointed to the ears, "appeared, but they got me and then a day, or more later, they let me out for no reason."

With clenched fists, Ryan growled low. "How.. How could they do something like that?! That-That's just sick!" He was shaking a bit from rage, glaring down to the floor, but a hand to his cheek calmed him down.

"Rye. It's ok." Ryan looked up to the younger gamer. "I'm here now." Ray smiled, a smile that always managed to calm Ryan down.

[...]

"Ray," Ryan begins, looking out from the window in Ray's hospital room. "I wonder how they managed to get the virus out so quickly. Maybe it was more than the water?" He turned to Ray, his brows furrowed.

The younger frowned. "I got no clue. I got it through a syringe, so I don't know." Before Ryan could reply, his phone buzzed in his pocket, signaling that he got a new message. He brought his phone up to his gaze.

 

**asshole geoff**

_check the news. now_

 

 Ryan frowned. He sat down next to Ray, opened an app to the latest news and waited for it to load. "What is it?"

"I don't know. Geoff told me to—"

His voice got stuck in his throat.

His eyes widened.

"No fucking way."

Ray shifted closer to him, trying to see what was written on the small screen.

He paled as he as well saw what it was.

_'Unknown virus goes worldwide.'_

Ray puts his hand over his mouth, closing his eyes. _This was his fault._

"Ray."

The Hispanic bit his lower lip, shaking slightly.

"Ray, it- this isn't your fault. If- If this is true, there has to be more.. labs out there. You cannot have been the first one." Ryan says, bringing Ray closer to his body. "... We will find the ones who did this."

[...]

The next day Ray is let out from the hospital. Everyone thinks it would be better if Ray wasn't alone, so he got to stay at Ryan's apartment for awhile. Ray himself didn't mind it at all. He really liked the place. Well, more liked the actual _Ryan_.

He came to work the day after that, a hoodie over a beanie, he had pushed down the rabbit ears as well as he could, even though it hurt like fuck. They went straight to recording after a small chat of how they should plan this out, since the queue of let's plays was getting short.

Geoff wore a hoodie as well, but had trouble hiding the horns. After Gavin had pointed out that the horns were pretty visible, he put on a loose beanie over it. Well at least half.

Michael only had a beanie, and he looked pretty normal, since he did often wear those. He had complained about his tail about two hundred times before their chairs even got to touch their tired asses. Michael mumbled something close to 'so this is how Sun feels like' before they started to record another Minecraft video.

Ray was lost in his own thoughts during the game, not commenting much, but Gavin's squeals and Michaels booming voice made his silence go unnoticed.

"Ray?"

He came back to the world of Minecraft and the five other men around him. "Hm?"

Geoff seemed concerned, but didn't show it. "How was it at your grandma's place?"

They had decided that since Ray was gone from the last two lets plays that they lied about where he was and that he had been with his grandma. They didn't want to worry their fans. "It was great. You should've tasted the pie, man, it was delicious." - With Jack still at the hospital, the five gamers started to get nervous, knowing that they had to do AHWU, VS and Go! soon, but wasn't sure what the fans would say if they had suddenly grown animalistic features.

Which was exactly what had happened.

But after Michael and Gavin had found out that more than half of the world had gotten infected, they decided to fuck it and film AHWU for the week, still hiding most of their horns and ears. Geoff struggled, but managed, Ryan took over what Jack should've done if he was there. They had said that Jack wasn't feeling well and was at home, even though the ginger hasn't been sick for years. They filmed two Go!'s, the first one short, Ray winning, the other one Michael won, only because Gavin managed to kill himself and Ryan, who was in the lead.

They were in the middle of recording a versus video when Burnie burst through their door. "Hey, assholes, we, uh, we're filming this thing and we need Ray in it." Ray was very confused by this statement, in the middle of a horrible SingStar competition. "Me? Why? Dude, Gav, Michael or Ryan is the acting guys here, not m—"

Burnie cut him off. "It's not acting," he was dead serious, and, wait, was that fur under his hoodie? Burnie turned around, walking out of their office, leaving them in confusion.

"Holy crap, Ray you're getting fired."

"Shut up Michael."

Ryan sighed. He turned off the Xbox, nodding to Kdin and Lindsay, the only other ones there, to turn off the cameras. They knew of the infection and how four of the famous gamers were infected. Jeremy had gotten infected too, 'sick' at home. Matt went time to time to check on him.

"Ray," Geoff began, "I think you need to go with him. It-It seems pretty serious." He was a bit concerned, but didn't show too much to the guys.

"Bloody hell X-Ray, you're gonna die." Gavin snickered, gaining a Xbox controller to his face.

[...]

"Rye, I'll be right back," Ray smiled at Ryan who had walked him all the way to Burnie's office. Ryan sighed, "I'm just worried. We have no clue what he wants to do..." Ray chuckled at how worried Ryan was, "I'll be out in a second."

He walked in, eyes widening at the sight.

Barbra, Joel and Burnie sat around a table, all of them turning to Ray as he entered.

Barbra stood up first, hugging Ray, and that was the moment he saw her fox tail up behind her back. He tensed a bit unconsciously. "You guys.." As Barbra let go, he saw Burnie taking off his hoodie, the same with Joel. Burnie had blonde dog ears, probably a Labrador. He shifted uncomfortable, probably sitting on his tail. Joel sighed, crossing his arms. "If you were wondering, I'm an otter apparently."

Ray couldn't help but to chuckle, then pulled down his hoodie and took off his beanie. He let out a sharp gasp as his rabbit ears flipped up. "Still hasn't.. gotten used to these." Barbra laughed, "Dude, you fit as a bunny!" Ray blushed, "It's a rabbit, not a bunny!"

Burnie sighed, "Alright fuckheads, this was supposed to be a meeting so I still want it to end as one." Joel nodded, "And I need to go back to edit— shiny!" His eyes was glassy as he noticed some keys at Burnie's desk, but their boss quickly grabbed his collar and pushed him back down. "Joel, keep your shit together and let's start," Burnie growled low, gaining a shiver from Ray.

"Alright, since apparently half of the fucking world is now.. half animals, we decided to announce that.. almost everyone in the office is infected too. I was about to write a journal, but I thought that doing an actual video would be better." Burnie explained, telling them what to say and do in it. The three understood quickly, nodding and sometimes commenting. They covered their animalistic features and began the video.

[...]

"Hey! I'm Burnie Burns, the creator of RvB and the channel you're watching through."

He pointed to the three to his sides. "You probably know these people," Ray waved to the camera and Burnie continued, "and we need to tell you something." He took a deep breath. "An unknown virus has spread through the states and the rest of the world, leaving the.. infected with animalistic traits." Ray looked down for a split second, remembering how he had paralyzed himself, then turned back up to the camera, trying to put up a strong face. Ray continued from where Burnie had stopped. "First it was found in water, and now it ascended a level, as it's now airborne." He took a breath, then continued, Barbra's hand on his shoulder. "There is no cure yet." His voice wavered a bit. Barbra picked it up. She turned to the camera. "Hopefully it isn't lethal, 'cause well.." They pulled down their hoodies and beanies. Ray's ears was pointing down, he was visibly uncomfortable. But he didn't let his eyes waver from the camera. Barbra continued, "some of us got it too."

Joel said the last words. "We hope you guys won't like freak out, we wish ourselves that everything will be alright. To be honest, I like these ears." He mumbled the last, grinning. Burnie sighed, his palm to his face. Joel continued. "Our twitter's open to all kinds of questions and well, the comments are below." With a wave, the video ended.

[...]

When they posted the video at Friday afternoon, Ray was surprised with all of the sudden questions asked on ask.fm.

He was sitting in Ryan's couch with the guy, watching some bad sitcom.

Ryan was the one to notice the questions. "Hey Ray, your phone is going crazy with the notifications again." He reached over, grabbing the phone on the table, "This time it's ask." Ryan gave the buzzing phone to the younger, both of them curious of the sudden outburst of questions. Ray figured it out quickly.

"Oh! It must be because of the video."

Ryan was confused. "What video?"

"The one we just put up."

Ryan checked the channel through his phone, watching the one minute and thirty seconds video silently. His mouth formed into a small 'o' and he turned to Ray. "That explains it."

Ray smiled. "Yeah." The two stared at each other for a good minute, until a crimson color decorated their cheeks. Ray almost didn't notice the gent slowly leaning closer until he did it. Ryan's cologne was strong, but calming, and it made the dark haired gamer melt. He gulped, the former model's breath on his lips.

**BZZZZZZZ-ING!**

Ray jumped up at least a meter up, his eyes wide and heart beating quick from the sudden sound, his ears straight up. He gasped out a ' _wahtthefuck_ ' then realized that it had been Ryan's phone that rang. The gent chuckled, still blushing, put a hand on Ray's shoulder calmly. "Calm down, it's just Geoff calling."

As Ryan walked up to the kitchen to answer, Ray still felt his heart beat quickly, but not from the phone incident.

_Did they almost kiss?!_

He wasn't sure himself what happened, but it felt like it at least. He didn't know Ryan even felt that way with him. He was a fucking Greek god while Ray was just.. Ray. _There's nothing in me that Ryan would ever want, right?_  At least that's what he thought.

Ray sighed, pulling his left rabbit ear down a bit, his face flushing. He decided to go see some of the questions asked.

"Hey Ray, Geoff said Jack was free to go tomorrow and—... are you.. crying?" Ryan frowned, walking up to Ray who had covered his face with his ears. Ray looked up, surprised, "No- no, I was, uh, there was just.." He chuckled, "There was so many nice comments." Ray turned the phone so it was visible to Ryan, who smiled. "Well, you know our fans." There were several of 'omg ray you're so cute as a bunny' and 'im glad to see that im not the only one infected' questions, and one that said 'dude check tumblr' and that was exactly what he decided to do.

What he found was almost a shock to him. Tumblr literally had _exploded_ with posts from infected and people hoping for the best. Fanarts were already out, gifs and pictures everywhere. He laughed, Ryan sitting next to him and smiling. "They're taking it.. calmly I suppose?" Ray laughed. "Nah, but they're taking it _good_."

[...]

**"FUCKING HELL GAVIN, IM GOING TO MURDER YOUR KIDS!"** And so, another let's play of Grand Theft Auto Five began.

Ray smirked, amused. "And now Michael tackled Gavin down to the ground." The Puerto Rican commentated. Ryan laughed, "Oh, wow, now they're making out." Jack's warm laugh was there too, the gent back from the hospital. "Calm down there kids."

Michael's cursing and Gavin's squawks was still audible. Geoff sighed, "And that's why you should always bring a condom to work kids."

An high pitched ' _fuck you gavin_ ' followed by a ' _NOT THE TAIL_ ' escaped Michael's lips, everyone laughing loudly as Gavin had somehow gotten hand of Michael's tail, pulling on it. A loud but soft 'meow' and a purr silenced all of them though, Ray almost choking on the coke he was drinking. He turned around to Michael, who was blushed red, eyes wide. Gavin was blushing darker, if possible, letting go of Michael's tail, accidentally pressed a soft spot, right where the tail connected to his lower back.

"What the fuck."

Ray blinked, "Let's cut that out. C'mon, I don't care if you guys were into like the most heated sex you've ever had, we gotta finish this damn let's play." Michael and Gavin quickly got to their chairs, still blushing. "Don't blame me if you get pregnant." Ray could swear on his Xbox that they were a bit too close than usual. But he ignored it.

[...]

The day went by quickly, as he walked through the buildings to get food or anything else, he ignored the stares and smiled at the occasional 'how are you?' or 'hey Ray'. Many had gotten infected, but a good half was still unharmed.

After three hours of editing, he decided to answer some more questions on ask. He smiled to himself, his ears twisting, amused and happy. "Hey X-Ray," He looked up, noticing Gavin at the doorway with Michael. "Michael and I are going home now, so uh, you do your thing and don't go home too late alright?" The Brit grinned sheepishly, then the two walked out of the office.

"What's with them?" Ryan asked, pointing behind him as he walked into the room, a diet coke in his hand. Ray chuckled, "They're totally dating." The _Mad King_ grinned. "Totally."

Ryan sat down on Jack's desk, who had already gone home, next to Ray. "So, we both have a lot of stuff to edit, but it's y'know time to eat, so I could get some if you want." Ray perked up at the mention of food. "That sounds good," he glanced at the screen, saving his last edits, then turned back to Ryan, "Any ideas?"

The blond shrugged. "Meh, no clue. I could just go get something from Taco Bell. Won't take that long." Ray grinned, "My hero."

Ryan smirked, "Am I Prince Charming yet?"

"What, am I your princess then?"

"Could be arranged yes."

"Just go asshat."

"Whatever you say my princess~"

Ray laughed, shaking his head as Ryan left. "Stupid Rye.." He let his gaze stick to his phone once again, a smile on his lips. He answered some more questions, then noticed one more question suddenly appear.

He first thought it was some sort of spam.

But no, it wasn't.

His smile turned into a frown.

Ray gulped, surveying the room, but he was alone. He sat up, hurrying out, noticing how dark it had gotten. He gulped, his hands shaking, ears pointing down. "Hello..?"

No answer.

"Anyone here!?"

"He—"

" **JESUS CHRIST STOP SHOUTING RIGHT OUTSIDE MY OFFI-** oh hi Ray." The Puerto Rican let out a breath as he noticed Burnie there. The older frowned. "You alright there dude?"

Ray opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. "I- uh- Have- Have you seen R-Ryan?"

Burnie raised an eyebrow, "He walked out about like half an hour ago, looking happy as fuck. Why?"

Had it already been that long time?

"Just wondering." He furrowed his brows. "How long does it take to drive to Taco Bell?" Burnie was a bit confused over the Hispanic's question. "Uh.. Around fifteen minutes to and back?"

Ray cursed aloud.

"What?" Burnie was starting to read under the lines. "Did something happen to Ryan?" Ray started to walk out of the building, the boss following him.

"Ray! Answer me!"

"Ray!"

Ray snapped back, glaring at Burnie, tears threatening to fall. **"I _don't know!_ " **He spat out, then ran away.

He didn't look back.

The words from ask echoed through his mind. 

**_The Bull is next._ **

He called the blond, but he didn't reply.

"Fuck, Rye.. Where are you?!"

All that replied him was silence and the faint buzz of cars in the distance.

Ryan was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the feel when your boyfriend disappears #girlythings 
> 
> please do comment! (next chapter might be a bit shorter)

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update as soon as I can, hopefully once a week. Kudos and comments are appreciated~


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